The Metro Manila Council (MMC) is studying the possibility of allowing trucks to ply Roxas Boulevard, according to the head of the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG).
PNP-HPG director Chief Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao, during the Government and Private Sector Coordinating Conference on Port Area Traffic Management on October 14, said the MMC Special Traffic Committee is exploring the idea of allowing trucks to once again travel on Roxas Boulevard since they have difficulty maneuvering on Macapagal Boulevard.
Gunnacao declined to provide further details, preferring to wait until a resolution is arrived at.
Truckers have been asking government to allow trucks on Roxas Boulevard to occupy one lane or make night-time deliveries to facilitate travel to the south where around 40% of cargoes from the Manila port are bound.
Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines (CTAP) director Ruperto Bayocot suggested that private vehicles use the eight-lane Macapagal Boulevard as an alternate route instead.
Customs commissioner Alberto Lina, who initiated the conference, agreed that trucks must be allowed on Roxas Boulevard, adding service roads need be cleared of parked private cars.
CTAP chairman emeritus Edgar Aglipay suggested creating a study group composed of representatives from truckers, port operators, PNP-HPG, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority-Task Force Pantalan (MMDA-TFP), Bureau of Customs, and the Philippine Ports Authority to address the traffic problem outside Manila ports.
Meanwhile, during the same conference, the MMDA-TFP urged truck drivers not to patronize vulcanizing and repair shops along Road 10 to prevent blocking the road.
MMDA-TFP’s Eduardo Untalan said trucks having their repairs done in shops along this thoroughfare obstruct the flow of traffic and can thus be towed by the TFP. Untalan said the task force’s current focus is clearing Road 10 even as it has already begun clearing illegal structures along the area of Zaragoza up to Anda Circle.
MMDA-TFP was created at the height of the Manila port congestion last year to improve traffic situation in the Port Area from C3 to Osmeña Highway. The MMDA-TFP is a separate unit from Task Force Pantalan headed by Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras as the latter seeks to stop corruption in and out of the ports.
Clearing operations
In another development, the HPG and MMDA will soon unveil their planned clearing operations in preparation for the Christmas rush.
Almendras, who heads the partnership between HPG and MMDA in clearing traffic on EDSA, said both units are finalizing the legal basis for clearing operations not just on EDSA but on other roads as well.
Almendras said lane separators will also be installed between bus lanes and non-bus lanes by the first week of November. – Roumina Pablo
